Treasure Hunting

Several days ago I mentioned how plentiful and inexpensive Montana moss agate is, but these things don’t take away from the fact that this type of agate can be a beautiful stone and that it has a personality all its own.

I decided to try to capture some of the uniqueness of one particular piece of Montana moss agate in a digital drawing.  The particular specimen that the drawing was modeled on is very “earthy” looking with some gold tones in the translucent center.

Today I hope to get some photographs taken of a newer batch of ocean jasper that I recently acquired.  This latest sampling actually has some nice translucent samples as well.  Yes, even though it’s called ocean jasper, a lot of it is quite translucent like agate.  From what I have read, there was some discussion on whether to classify it as an agate or a jasper, but the name ocean jasper won out because of the orbicular patterns that are found on many of the specimens.  If you want to read up some more on this, check out this information.

During the great western Gold Rush, people were so caught up with the desire to find silver and gold that they often overlooked a lot of other beautiful, valuable treasures in the earth. Such was the case in Montana, where many areas are practically littered with sapphires. One place that you can go to experience this site firsthand is the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine in Philipsburg, Montana. Check the entry on our Fee Digs page for more information on this locale.

Montana is another place that I would like to plan a trip to this summer.  I’m not sure if there will time to fit it in with all the other things I want to do, but I would definitely love to see some of these gorgeous sapphires up close.